Fishing Your Cares Away on Lulaby Bay
by A.C. Dawson
Summary: A young Caractacus Pots sits fishing on the dock, thinking about the events of the day, when a girl comes and lifts his spirits. This is how I believe the lulaby "Hushabye Mountian" came to be. Full of fluff so sweet you'll think you're eating cotton candy. Enjoy!


There was a cool breeze blowing down the mountain, in between the tiny houses of the small town, and across the rippling waves of the bay.

A young boy sitting on the dock with a makeshift fishing pole sighed, deep in thought. He wondered why the bullies at school were always so mean, especially to him. For example, today in school was "Show and Tell," and Caractacus thought it would be a good idea to bring one of his inventions. He didn't know quite what to call it; he just knows that it cleans up the dust on the carpet, on the good days that is. Sadly, today was not one of those days. It worked just fine, until it suddenly stopped. To see what the matter was, he knelt down and opened up the "dust compartment" to see if there was a clog in there, and wondered if that's why it stopped. That's when it exploded in his face, and scattered dust everywhere. The whole class erupted in laughter at the sight of him with a dusty black face. There were only two people in the whole room that took pity on him: the teacher, and a girl about his age sitting in the second row.

He always thought that the girl was pretty, and he even liked her a little, but he was never brave enough to talk to her. Today, when the bullies were making fun of him after school, she walked right up to them, like she was invincible, and started defending him. She was just getting warmed up when the teacher came out. At the sight of her, the bullies backed up, and even apologized, but Caractacus could tell that they didn't really mean it. Then they were gone, and the girl said, "I don't think your invention is junk. I think it's fantastic. You should invent more wonderful things like that." Then she skipped off towards her home.

So, here he sits, thinking about her, and the events of the day. Someone from behind him humming a tune breaks him from his thoughts. It is the girl. She stands at the other end of the dock with a paper bag of treats. She sees him and waves with a smile. Out of politeness, he smiles and waves back. She skips down the dock to where he is and asks to sit with him, a seat of course he doesn't deny her. She sits down gently, and swings her legs over the side of the dock slowly, careful not to spill her bag of treats.

The little paper bag has the Scrumptious Confection Company logo on the front. Caractacus recognizes it easily because it's his favorite candy company. What he wouldn't do for a bit of pocket change right about now.

Then, as if she read his mind, she asked, "Would you like some? I only have the jelly beans." The jelly beans were his favorite!

"Yes please! If you don't mind of course." He hoped he didn't sound too eager.

"Here you go," she said as she gave him a handful.

They sat for a while, just eating their jelly beans and enjoying the good weather, when Caractacus realized that he was eating this girls jelly beans and didn't even know her name! Bashfully, he asked, "What's your name?"

"Cara," she sang, "What's yours?"

"Uh… Caratacus."

"Pleased to meet you."

"Pleasure's all mine." He said with a smile.

She giggled, started to swing her feet, and began humming again.

"What's that tune you're humming?" he asked out of curiosity.

"I don't know what it's called, but it's the tune I heard at the candy vendor over there." She pointed to the brightly colored candy vendor turning the crank on a music box. Caractacus could just hear it over the waves crashing against the dock. It was the same tune Cara was humming, but faster and higher pitched.

"It's a lovely tune, don't you think?" Cara asked sweetly.

"Yes, it is," Caratacus replied, putting another bunch of jelly beans in his mouth.

"I think it sounds like a lullaby." She said matter-of-factly.

After a while, Caratacus asked, "Do you really think that I should invent more things?"

"Of course I do! And anyone that tells you that you shouldn't, don't listen to them."

"I just wish that they would like it, and that it would work like it should," he said glumly, resting his chin on his hand.

"Those are just worries. They'll all go away someday. Maybe they'll all sail away on a big boat and you will never see them again."

"If only…"

That's when she started to sing,"A gentle breeze from high on the mountain softly blows o'er waves of the bay…"

"What's that?" Caratacus asks.

"It's the words to my lullaby." Cara replies.

"Hm… I think they need names."

"What does?" Cara asks, puzzled.

"The mountain and the bay. I think they need names."

"What do you think we should name them, then?" Cara asks, interested in the idea.

"Well, since it's a lullaby, maybe you should name one of them Lullaby. Lullaby and Hushabye."

"That's it! Very clever of you to make them rhyme."

This time, he was the one to sing it, "A gentle breeze from Hushabye Mountain softly blows o'er Lullaby Bay."

"Yes, I quite like it better that way." Cara smiled.

"Why a mountain and a bay?" He asked Cara.

"Well, look where we're at, silly!"

It dawned on him as he turned around to look at the mountain behind him, and then turned around again to see the bay in front of him.

"Of course!" he smiled.

"That and I think they are important in another way too."

"Why is that?"

"I live up there on that mountain. You see the smoke stack? That's where my house is. And my daddy is a fisherman, and he comes out on this very bay to fish. His boat is over there." She said pointing to a boat with light blue sails, with the words "No Troubles" on the back.

"Is that the name of the boat? No Troubles?" Caractacus asked, slightly confused.

"Yes, it is. Father named it that because when he's fishing, he makes it a point not to worry about how many fish he needs to get, he just fishes, and what he gets, he gets," she says eating a jelly bean.

"Do you really think someone could sail their troubles away and never have to see them again?" Caractacus asked, seriously considering the thought.

"You know, you ask a whole lot of questions," she said rather sharply, but then she leans in a little closer and says more softly, "But they are really good questions."

They look at each other for a second, and then she replies as if talking about the weather, "I think you could if you tried hard enough. Hey! That's what the lullaby should be about: Sailing your troubles away."

Caractacus simply smiled and said, "That sounds like a good idea."

Cara started humming again. Caractacus nearly forgot the whole reason he was sitting on the dock. He'd been sitting there for an awfully long time, although he didn't mind it because he had company.

He checked to see if he still had bait, and sure enough the worm was gone. He sighed, and debated going home.

"Uh, oh. Is your bait gone? Here, try one of these," she said, giving him a jelly bean of all things. Caractacus looked at her as if she had fallen off her rocker.

"Fish don't eat jelly beans, Cara! They eat worms," he said incredulously.

"Well, do you have any more worms?" Cara wrinkled her nose at the thought of those squirmy creatures.

Caractacus looked over to his tackle box, and inside the little glass jar. Not even a fly. He looked back over at Cara, and took the jelly bean from her outstretched palm, putting it on the hook.

Then Cara started singing again,"…It fills the sails of boats that are waiting, waiting to sail your worries away… It isn't far to Hushabye Mountain, and your boat waits down by the key." This is when Caractacus chimed in, "The winds of night so softly are sighing, soon they will fly _our_ troubles to sea." They both laughed, and smiled at each other.

Then she continued, "So close your eyes on Hushabye Mountain. Wave good bye to cares of the day." Just like before, he continued, "But watch your boat from Hushabye Mountain sail far away from Lullaby Bay," he went on to say, "What's it matter what those bullies think? Sure, the… thing may not work like it's supposed to yet, but I'll still work on it, and other inventions too." Cara smiled at his new found encouragement.

There was a slight tug on the fishing pole in his hands. They both looked over the side of the dock, and the fishing pole nearly jerked him into the water. Then, with a flurry of excitement, he jerked the pole out of the water, pulled up the string and sure enough, he'd caught a fish. Not just any fish either. He was huge! Caractacus thought that, surely, this fish was big enough for both he and his father to have seconds for dinner that night.

And of all the different kinds of bait he caught it with; he caught it with a jelly bean.

"Well, if fish like jelly beans, I wonder what other animals like Scrumptious Candy!" Cara said in a jesting tone of voice. They both laughed heartily at _that_ ridiculous thought.


End file.
